A graduate of Harvard University, at age 21, Van Rensselaer took control of Rensselaerswyck, his family's manor. He developed the land by encouraging tenants to settle it, and granting them perpetual leases at moderate rates, which enabled the tenants to use more of their capital to make their farms and businesses productive.

Van Rensselaer was a supporter of higher education; he served on the board of trustees for several schools and colleges, and was the founder of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was also a civic activist and philanthropist, and was a founder of Albany's public library and the city's Institute of History & Arts.

After Van Rensselaer's 1839 death, efforts by his sons to collect past due lease payments led to the Anti-Rent War, and the break up and sale of the manor. As the heir to and then owner of one of the largest estates in New York, Van Rensselaer's holdings made him the tenth richest American of all time, based on the ratio of his fortune to contemporary GDP.

Van Rensselaer was raised by his mother and stepfather, the Rev. Eilardus Westerlo, whom his mother married in 1775, and his Livingston grandfather.[4] His uncle, Abraham Ten Broeck, administered the Van Rensselaer estate after the untimely death of Van Rensselaer's father. From an early age, Van Rensselaer was raised to succeed his father as lord of the manor.[3] Stephen's younger brother Philip S. Van Rensselaer (1767–1824), later served as Mayor of Albany from 1799 to 1816 and again from 1819 to 1820.

On his 21st birthday, Van Rensselaer took possession of Rensselaerswyck, his family's 1,200 square mile (3,072 km²) estate, and began a long tenure as lord of the manor.[7] Van Rensselaer desired to profit from the land, but was extremely reluctant to sell it off.[8] Instead, he developed the land by granting perpetual leases at moderate rates; Van Rensselaer derived a steady rental income from his property, while tenants were able to become successful farmers without having to pay a large purchase price up front.[9] This meant that they could invest more in their operations, which led to increased productivity in the area. Over time, Van Rensselaer became landlord to more than 80,000 tenants.[10] He generally proved to be a lenient landowner; he accepted produce such as grain and firewood in place of cash for rent payments,[11] and when tenants found themselves in financial difficulty, he usually preferred to accept late or partial payments rather than evict them.[12] One facet of the leases Van Rensselaer granted was the "quarter-sale"—tenants who sold their leases were required to pay Van Rensselaer one fourth of the sale price or one additional year's rent.[13] Over time, this requirement became a point of contention between Van Rensselaer and the tenants, which in part led to the Anti-Rent War.[13]

In 1791, Van Rensselaer was one of the incorporators of the Albany Library, which evolved over time into the Albany Public Library, and he was chosen to serve on the board of trustees.[14]

In the First Census of the United States in 1790, it was noted that he owned fifteen slaves.[15] By the time of the 1830 Census, he had none, in keeping with New York's gradual emancipation law, under which all slaves in the state were freed by 1827.[16] Van Rensselaer later became an advocate of enabling African Americans to emigrate to colonies in Africa, such as Liberia, and he served as a vice president of the Albany Auxiliary Society and the American Colonization Society.[17][18]

In 1825 Van Rensselaer cast the vote that likely decided the presidential election in favor of John Quincy Adams. Because none of the four candidates received a majority of electoral votes in the 1824 presidential election, the U.S. House had to choose from the top three finishers—Adams, Andrew Jackson, and William H. Crawford. House members voted first individually by state, and then each state cast one ballot for the candidate who received a majority of the state's House delegation; a candidate had to carry 13 state delegations to win the election. Van Rensselaer had intended to vote for Crawford, but changed his mind and voted for Adams. His vote gave Adams a majority of the New York delegation; winning New York gave Adams 13 states in the House vote, to seven for Jackson and four for Crawford.[28]

Van Rensselaer's militia experience led to an appointment to command troops during the War of 1812. When war was declared on Great Britain in June 1812, Van Rensselaer was a leading Federalist candidate for Governor of New York. Democratic-Republican Party leaders, including President James Madison and incumbent New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins devised a way to remove Van Rensselaer from the campaign by offering him command of the Army of the Centre—U.S. militia and regular Army troops massing in upstate New York for an invasion of Canada. If Van Rensselaer declined a military leadership role during a time of war, he would lose esteem in the eyes of the voters. If he accepted, he would likely be unable to run for governor.

Van Rensselaer accepted; despite having held high rank in the militia, he was largely inexperienced at leading large bodies of troops. As a condition of his acceptance, his cousin Solomon, who had more military experience, was appointed his aide-de-camp. But the Army of the Centre consisted largely of untrained, inexperienced militiamen; under the Constitution, which stressed that the role of the militia was to enforce laws, prevent insurrection, and repel invasion, they did not have to cross into Canada to fight.

The British were in the process of fortifying the Queenston Heights that Van Rensselaer would have to attack, and his officers were itching for action despite their general's desire to delay until his troops were better trained and organized. To make matters worse, Brigadier GeneralAlexander Smyth, Van Rensselaer's subordinate, had a large force of regular Army troops that was theoretically under Van Rensselaer's command, but Smyth refused to subordinate himself to a militia officer. With some of his officers planning to try and force him from command, Van Rensselaer decided to act without Smyth.

On October 13, 1812, Van Rensselaer launched an attack on the British position that would evolve into the Battle of Queenston Heights. Though initially successful, Van Rensselaer's inadequate preparations and his plan of attack were clearly main reasons for what became a major defeat. He was unable to secure the element of surprise, he did not procure enough boats for his men to cross the Niagara River easily, and he was even unable to supply his soldiers with sufficient ammunition. Despite significantly outnumbering the British in the early stages of the battle, the American soldiers, untried and untrained, sometimes refused to cross to the Canadian side of the river. Once the tide of the battle turned, Van Rensselaer was not even able to coax the boatmen into going back over to rescue the doomed attack force. His forces were badly beaten by British troops under generals Isaac Brock and, after Brock's death, Roger Hale Sheaffe.

The defeat at Queenston Heights spelled the end to Van Rensselaer's active military career; after the battle he resigned his post. He continued to serve in the militia, and was the senior major general in the state at the time of his death.[31] Despite his military setback, Van Rensselaer was still the Federalist candidate for governor in April 1813; he lost to Tompkins 43,324 votes to 39,713.[21]

Engraving of Van Rensselaer by G. Parker, from a miniature by Charles Fraser, c. 1835

After the war, Van Rensselaer continued his service on the Erie Canal Commission, and between 1820 and 1823 commissioned an agricultural and geological survey of the canal's surroundings, at his own expense.[20] He also held many significant posts after the war. In 1820, he was elected president of the state Board of Agriculture.[32] Also in 1820, he was an incorporator of the Albany Savings Bank, and was elected to serve as the bank's president.[19]

In 1824, Van Rensselaer was one of the organizers of the Albany Institute, and was elected its president. This organization later merged with another to form the Albany Institute of History & Art.[19] He was also active in the American Lyceum organization, and served as its president.[33]

When the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company received its corporate charter from the State of New York in 1830, Van Rensselaer was an original incorporator, and he went on to serve as a member of the company's board of directors.[34] New York Life Insurance and Trust operated until 1922, when it merged with the Bank of New York to become the Bank of New York & Trust Company.[35]

Following the 1834 death in France of the Marquis de Lafayette, Van Rensselaer was appointed marshal for the Albany-area commemorations.[19] He led the parade of militia members, fire fighters, Revolutionary War veterans and others, which culminated in speeches and a eulogy by William Buell Sprague.[19]

In 1812, Van Rensselaer took part in the incorporation of the Lancaster School, an institution dedicated to providing an education for children whose parents could not afford to send them to school, and he served on the school's board of trustees.[36][37] In 1813, Van Rensselaer was one of the organizers of The Albany Academy, and was chosen to serve as the first president of the school's board of trustees.[19]

In 1824 Van Rensselaer and Amos Eaton established the Rensselaer School (now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI) "for the purpose of instructing persons, who may choose to apply themselves, in the application of science to the common purposes of life".[39] Since its founding, RPI has developed a reputation for academic excellence, particularly in the field of engineering.[40]

Stephen Van Rensselaer IV (1789–1868), inherited the east side of Rensselaerwyck and inherited the manor in 1839 by his father's will. He graduated from Princeton in 1808. He served as major general of militia. During the anti-rent troubles in 1839 he sold his townships, and at his death the manor passed out of the hands of his descendants.[50]

Van Rensselaer died in New York City on January 26, 1839. He was buried in a family cemetery at the Van Rensselaer Manor House, and was later reinterred at Albany Rural Cemetery, Section 14, Lot 1.[53]

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